Sophia Bierend’s The Taster is an electric short film set in a dystopian future. As the film goes on, you find yourself gripping your chair just that bit more than you expected. From top to bottom, this is exceptional.
The Danube Delta, Romania. Near future. The young Romanian Ozana is chosen to work as the new taster girl for the occupying forces. But on her first day of work, she already breaks the most important rule – never look the leader in the eye. Soon Ozana finds herself face to face with the unpredictable man who is occupying her country. All alone.
It is not unusual in history for a taster to exist for those in power who fear poisoning. However, Sophia Bierend so deftly shows her audience how little disregard is given to the person in said role. For Ozana, she is rushed in right before lunch, given instructions on how she should present herself and even down to the minutia of how many times she should chew. She is of no importance to the people in that room; she is there to ensure lives on, even if, in the likelihood considering she has replaced someone else that she only has a limited timeframe in the role.
Bierend fills her script with little clues about how grim life on Earth has become in this future. Not only is Ziehmann able to eat seemingly the best food around, Diana double-checks with Ozana if it is true that she has never eaten solid foods before. How harrowing a future is that for humanity that for those in the less privileged populous, solid foods are simply not an option. As The Taster continues, the more we realise that while those in charge are eating well and looking like they are living a life of luxury, they are still contained deep in a bunker. There is no palatial estate here.
The performances are what make The Taster such a compelling watch; Silvana Mihai demands your attention throughout the film; you see a fire within her, yet at the same time, you fear for her at all times. She has moved around from one place to the next, given her predecessor’s clothes to wear and barely has a moment to think for herself. Only once she is alone with Ziehmann do we see the real Ozana come to the fore, combative, alive.
There is a presence in Mihai that automatically has you root for her. When she suddenly becomes that combative, confident version of herself, we wish that she would not. However, that is clearly not who this character is, not someone; once they have been given the opportunity to be themselves, will they willingly concede it back.
Backing up Mihai is the fantastic Godehard Giese; his Ziehmann is as fearful as Ozana but for completely different reasons. Paranoid to the extreme, he questions Ozana why anyone would speak quietly in a kitchen full of people, afraid that they may be taken away at any moment. He has lost his senses; there is a desperation to the character that Giese pulls off very well. When his paranoia comes to the fore, he yells at Ozana, but more into the void about how he knows what people truly think of him, what they call him. Perhaps before all of this, he was someone who was doing the right thing, had people on his side, and he has not recovered from that.
Andreea Sovan, as Diana, is also excellent, yes, she is as straight-backed as necessary, but you immediately sense that this is all a front for those around her. She has to be this way; otherwise, she may fall victim and disappear. Behind that controlling nature is a person full of fear, and in the expressive Sovan, we see that clearly in her eyes. There is not often a time when the main trio of characters in a short are as exceptionally strong as they are in The Taster.
To cement what a talent Sophia Bierend is, this is a student film (granted a BAFTA award-winning one). To see what she has achieved here in such an intimate way can only lead you to believe that she and her lead, Mihai, will be on our screens again sooner rather than later. The Taster is an exceptional short film that allows for small moments to make the strongest of impacts.
★★★★★
The Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal from July 20th through August 9th.
For more of our coverage of Fantasia 2023, please see below:
Se dit d’un cerf qui quitte son bois (Short)
Only Yourself to Blame (Short)
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